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Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all had a safe and enjoyable holiday season! This is one of my favorite times of the year. A time to reflect on the year previous and to look ahead to what’s to come. Plus I get to break out my lists, and you all know how much I enjoy my list making!

My GoodReads goal was to read 75 books this year. I had toyed with the idea of raising that to 100, but I am very glad that I didn’t. I made it to 75, but only barely. Here’s my list:

The Magician King by Lev Grossman

The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman

Splintered by A.G. Howard

Unhinged by A.G. Howard

Deep Blue Secret by Christie Anderson

Ensnared by A.G. Howard

Rogue Wave by Christie Anderson

Ambrosia Shore by Christie Anderson

The Island by Jen Minkman

Angels & Demons by Dan Brown

The Doorknob Society by M.J. Fletcher

Death’sDaughter by Amber Benson

GoingBovine by Libba Bray

GoodOmens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Redshirts by John Scalzi

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

Crossed by Ally Condie

Devilish by Maureen Johnson

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke

Reached by Ally Condie

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

The Impossible Engineers by M.J. Fletcher

The Mapmakers Union by M.J. Fletcher

The Detective Inspectors by M.J. Fletcher

Skeleton Key Guild by M.J. Fletcher

Valiant by Holly Black

Ironside by Holly Black

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey

My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

One Good Knight by Mercedes Lackey

Fortune’s Fool by Mercedes Lackey

Feed by Mira Grant

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

My Soul to Save by Rachel Vincent

Deadline by Mira Grant

Will Grayson Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan

My Soul to Keep by Rachel Vincent

My Soul to Steal by Rachel Vincent

If I Die by Rachel Vincent

Before I Wake by Rachel Vincent

With All My Soul by Rachel Vincent

Blackout by Mira Grant

BeautifulCreatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

BeautifulDarkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

BeautifulChaos by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story by David Levithan

Concealed Power by K.J. Colt

Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Blood Healing by K.J. Colt

Blood Sacrifice by K.J. Colt

Forsaken Power by K.J. Colt

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

The Girl in the Clockwork Collar by Kady Cross

The Girl with the Iron Touch by Kady Cross

The Girl with the Windup Heart by Kady Cross

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

Mind Games by Kiersten White

Scar Night by Alan Campbell

Under the Empyrean Sky by Chuck Wendig

Perfect Lies by Kiersten White

Blightborn by Chuck Wendig

The Harvest by Chuck Wendig

The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu

A Tale Dark & Grimm by Adam Gidwitz

Nirvana by J.R. Stewart

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

So I did make it just over my goal, which is awesome. I think for 2016, I will be keeping the same goal of 75, but I will still see if I can shoot for 100. Hopefully I won’t have any more of those pesky reading slumps.

I am actually very pleased with my progress here. I listed 33 series that I had started in previous years, but had never finished. I wanted to try to finish one third of them, and I came pretty darn close at 10. I’m going to count that as a win! Here’s my list, making off the one’s I completed:

Modern Faerie Tales by Holly Black – COMPLETED!!

Anna series by Kendare Blake – COMPLETED!!

Phedre’s Trilogy by Jacqueline Carey

The Blackcoat Rebellion series by Aimee Carter

The Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima

Matched series by Ally Condie – COMPLETED!!

The Steampunk Chronicles by Kady Cross – COMPLETED!!

Hellsbane series by Paige Cuccaro

Book of Ember series by Jeanne DuPrau

The Rules for Disappearing series by Ashley Elston

Mythos Academy series by Jennifer Estep

Caster Chronicles by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl – COMPLETED!!

Scarlet series by A.C. Gaughen

Legends of Dimmingwood series by C. Greenwood

The Magicians series by Lev Grossman – COMPLETED!!!!

Hex Hall series by Rachel Hawkins

Rain Wild Chronicles by Robin Hobb

Mara Dyer series by Michelle Hodkin

Splintered series by A.G. Howard – COMPLETED!!!!

Shades of London series by Maureen Johnson

Scarlett series by Maureen Johnson

Arrows trilogy by Mercedes Lackey

Five Hundred Kingdoms series by Mercedes Lackey

Sevenwaters trilogy by Juliet Marillier

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

Angelfire series by Courtney Allison Moulton

Abhorsen series by Garth Nix

The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss

Books of Faerie series by Maggie Stiefvater

Wolves of Mercy Falls series by Maggie Stiefvater – COMPLETED!!

Bartimaeus series by Jonathan Stroud

The Heartland Trilogy by Chuck Wendig – COMPLETED!!

Mind Games series by Kiersten White – COMPLETED!!

I also tried to finish all the series that I started this year, and did pretty well.

The Water Keepers by Christie Anderson – COMPLETED!!

The Doorknob Society by M.J. Fletcher – COMPLETED!!

Between by April Genevieve Tulcholke

Calliope Reaper-Jones by Amber Benson – NOT INTERESTED IN FINISHING

Soul Screamers by Rachel Vincent – COMPLETED!!

Healers of Meligna by K.J. Colt – COMPLETED!!

Starbound trilogy by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner – COMPLETE UNTIL DECEMBER! NEW BOOK OUT NOW!!

So if I take the 23 left from previous years, and then add the two that I want to finish from 2015, that gives me 25 series left to work on. I’d like to knock another 10 out in 2016, as well as continue finishing new series as I go.

And there you have it! I’m really excited to start off this new year with some great books, both new finds and old friends. I will also probably try to do more with the Seasonal Reading Challenge over at GoodReads, just because it’s fun to try and fit my reading into their little puzzle.

What are your goals for the year? Are there any books you’re looking forward to in 2016?

Greetings all! I have returned after enjoying the holidays with my family. I hope you and yours had a nice holiday, whichever one you celebrate this time of year.

As 2012 draws to a close, it’s time to look over the year and see how things have gone and what needs improvement. I pulled up my New Year’s resolution post from last year and was actually fairly surprised.

1. Finish that #%$#@%$ book!

Since the rough draft is done, I think I can cross this off the list. Sure, the book isn’t polished. It’s not publishable. But it has a beginning, a middle, and an end. That’s more than I’ve ever been able to do in the past.

2. Do something about my job.

This one has also been taken care of, although my hours have been creeping back up over the past few months. That will change, especially once school starts. I will need all the help I can get at that point.

3. Blog at least twice a week and tweet at least once a day.

Yup, yup. I think I’ve more than taken care of that one.

4. Read 60 books this year.

Surpassed that goal by a fairly wide margin, and found a whole bunch of wonderful new books and authors in the process. Who could ask for anything more?

5. Get healthy.

And here’s where I dropped the ball. It’s not that I don’t want to try and get healthier, it’s just that it was hard to make it a priority with everything else going on. Which is stupid, since if my health goes, everything else will go with it. I guess we can see where improvements need to be made.

All in all, I would say that this year has been a fairly good one for me, if these goals are anything to go on. Naturally, I will have new goals for 2013, which I will put up tomorrow.

It’s finally here – the dawn of a new beginning that is shiny and wonderful and . . . we should probably stop right there. I love the concepts of the New Year and resolutions, but let’s face it: today is pretty much the same as yesterday was. Most resolutions people make are broken within a few weeks and very few last much longer than a couple months. It’s kind of silly to think that just because we stayed up until midnight to watch a brightly lit crystal ball being lowered onto the roof of a building that our lives are magically going to change.

And yet, there is still a part of me that gets all fluttery thinking that this is the year. This is the year that all these amazing goals I’ve kept hidden in my head for so many years will finally come to fruition. I don’t know why. I’ve never kept a New Year’s resolution before. I start off with really good intentions, and then loose interest towards the end of January. Or decide that changing is too hard and that maybe I’m okay just the way I am. And I don’t want to come out and say that this year is going to be different – we always say that. It’s part of that New Year’s magic. But maybe this year will be different. The only thing standing in my way is . . . me. Maybe this year, I can finally pull it all together.

That said, here are my resolutions.

1. Finish that #%$#@%$ book! I have never been so poised to do something in my life. I have the tools, I have the time (sort of), and I have an amazing support system, including a wonderful family, and the best writing group a girl could ask for. The book will get finished, at least the first draft, this year, so help me!

2. Do something about my job. I’m tired of complaining about work all the time. I will somehow find a way to either cut back my hours or find a new job that doesn’t suck all the life out of me. Either way, I think I will be happier.

3. Blog at least twice a week and tweet at least once a day. That’s right! You get more of me! Congratulations to you!

4. Read 60 books this year. I always set a reading goal. Last year was 50 books, which I did achieve, although just barely. There was a long stretch in the middle of the year where I didn’t read very much and got very distracted by the Internet. To help me with the goal, I have purchased a new Kindle Fire (whoohoooo!!!!) which should be here next week.

5. Get healthy. Everyone seems to make weight loss goals this time of year and, while I could probably stand to drop a few pounds, that’s not really what I’m going for. I spend a great deal of time being very tired and just not feeling well. This is because I don’t take proper care of myself. I’m not going to be militant about it, but I want to try to eat just a little better and get just a little bit more exercise.

I wish everyone out there a glorious, beautiful, prosperous and safe New Year!